MORNING NEWS: Challenges to NY SAFE Act to be Considered by Court

ALBANY – The effort to fight new gun regulations that were recently approved in Albany is picking up steam. Last week, Buffalo attorney James Tresmond filed a lawsuit contending the NY SAFE Act’s ban on certain assault weapons to be unconstitutional, and a judge there has ordered the state to answer by April.

On Friday, a longtime Capital Region activist named Bob Shulz went to Albany County Court to argue that the governor Andrew Cuomo’s use of a “message of necessity” to push the bill through was flawed. The message, which was accepted by the Legislature in passing the bill, waived the standard three-day “aging” period required for most measures. So far, more than 1250 people have signed onto the suit.

State lawyers will now have to appear on Monday, March 11 to explain why the court shouldn’t issue an injunction to halt the law.

In a statement to Albany media, Shulz said he’s just simply interested in holding state lawmakers accountable.

In the past, state courts have been unwilling to interfere with the legislative procedures used to speed bills through the two chambers. A similar suit objecting to the use of a message of necessity in passing the 2011 bill that legalized same-sex marriage ended in a decision that chided lawmakers and Cuomo for overstating the emergency circumstances at play, but allowed the law to stand.

Also set to come to a state courtroom is the still-pending lawsuit against the NY SAFE Act, filed by the National Rifle Association and the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association.